an eclipse trip

Did you watch the eclipse? Mike and I traveled to Idaho this weekend to be in the path of totality. I thought Mike was kind of crazy when he mentioned it a few months ago, but oh, it was amazing! I keep watching the video I shot of the moment of totality over and over again (you can see it in my instagram), and it gives me goose bumps each time. It was an incredible experience.

This photo was snapped during totality. You can see that it wasn't totally dark, but pretty nearly. It was so, so strange.

We met up with my parents in Victor, Idaho. The skies were clear and the temperature was just right.

As we neared totality, the temperature dropped significantly and the sky started to darken, but it wasn't until the moon completely covered the sun that it got dark. I can't even describe it. It was surreal and spiritual and breathtaking. If you ever get the chance to witness a total eclipse, do it! Make it happen. You won't regret it.

One of my favorite parts of yesterday, though, was when totality was complete someone started blaring the song, Total Eclipse of My Heart. It was perfect. Not my favorite part: the post-eclipse traffic. Oh man, it was intense getting out of Idaho! We barely made our flight home.

But before the eclipse, we spent a little bit of time with my parents in Sundance. I hiked with my mom and we ate dinner together at the Foundry Grill. I felt so lucky to be there twice in one summer!

Mike and I made our way slowly north, stopping at temples along the way. First was Payson, for our Mabel, who was born in Payson. Then the new Provo City Center Temple (SO gorgeous, wow!).

And then up to Logan. Utah (and Idaho) is such a beautiful state. I am glad we were able to spend the weekend there. We had such a nice trip.

And now I'm scheming how I can see the next total eclipse in 2024. . .

a new school year and a new theme

School starts today! I sent everyone off this morning and now the house is quiet. I wasn't quite ready for summer to end, so I feel a little bit glum here all alone. My kids get along well together and I think they are so fun to be around, so I'll miss having them home. Our house was an especially happy one this summer.

Stella and Oliver are off to 4th and 7th grades. They attend the same school, a sort of magnet school in our district with a more rigorous curriculum. Mabel is a sophomore in high school, in the International Baccalaureate program. Her schedule looks so hard this year, but she is a bright girl and I know she'll do all right! And then sweet Elliot is in 2nd grade at our neighborhood elementary.

I like to pick a theme each school year. It gives us something to think about as we start a new year. With Mabel's intense load, and Oliver starting junior high, and Stella at a new, more difficult school, I was afraid we would get loaded down with work. I want to make sure that we always put God first, so I chose a scripture from Matthew that says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

My hope is that our family will put prayer, scripture study, service, and family time ahead of school and homework and anything else. I have seen that in my own life, when I have put a greater priority on my spiritual wellbeing, everything else falls into place.

Here's to a new year!

charity vs pride

I was studying for my lesson yesterday and came across a talk by President Uchtdorf called "In Praise of Those Who Save." He is referring to those who work to save their marriages and families. I am grateful to have a strong marriage with Mike and a happy family life with our children, but I still found lots of things in his talk that were very helpful.

First, President Uchtdorf says that "strong marriage and family relationships ... require constant, intentional work. The doctrine of eternal families must inspire us to dedicate our best efforts to saving and enriching our marriages and families."

And "no matter how flat your relationship may be at the present, if you keep adding pebbles of kindness, compassion, listening, sacrifice, understanding, and selflessness, eventually a mighty pyramid will begin to grow."

So there is always hope! But adding those pebbles is not easy. It requires us to seek charity. President Uchtdorf says. "Whatever problems your family is facing, whatever you must do to solve them, the beginning and the end of the solution is charity, the pure love of Christ. Without this love, even seemingly perfect families struggle. With it, even families with great challenges succeed."

But sometimes charity is really hard to summon, right? Especially when we are in the middle of an argument. Because "the great enemy of charity is pride. Pride is one of the biggest reasons marriages and families struggle. Pride is short-tempered, unkind, and envious. Pride exaggerates its own strength and ignores the virtues of others. Pride is selfish and easily provoked. Pride assumes evil intent where there is none and hides its own weaknesses behind clever excuses. Pride is cynical, pessimistic, angry, and impatient. Indeed, if charity is the pure love of Christ, then pride is the defining characteristic of Satan. Pride my be a common human failing. But it is not part of our spiritual heritage."

When I read that last paragraph, I realized that when Mike and I have a hard day together, it is almost always because of pride. When we are able to overcome a difficulty together, it is because one of us offered the other charity. So here's to charity! And to offering the people who mean the most to us the best of us.


Have a good week! My kids are scrubbing the basement clean of the filth of summer today. :) I'm not particularly looking forward to the start of the school year, but I am looking forward to having a clean house again.

happy weekend

Yesterday we had a whopper of a monsoon. It is so amazing to have the temperature drop 30 degrees in a few minutes as the rain (and hail) start pouring out of the sky. It's just about the only time you see kids playing in the street in the summer. It is a welcome change, even with the humidity it brings.

I told myself this week that I didn't have to do anything. That I was just going to enjoy our last week of summer and relax. I did do a lot of that, but I also got busy cleaning out cupboards and junk drawers and my entire sewing room. I'm not sure what came over me. It was the most energy I've had all summer. Maybe because I gave myself permission to relax? Who knows, but I sure love walking by my sewing room and seeing it spic and span.

I'm teaching the Young Women on Sunday. The lesson is on why family is important. I don't usually look forward to my turn to teach, but I am excited to get into this topic with them. This whole month is full of really great lesson topics, actually. I am grateful to belong to a church that believes in and teaches these things to our youth.

Well, Oliver will be happy to know that because of the rain yesterday, the grass was too soggy to mow this morning. He had no idea I was going to wake him up early to work on it. We'll have to do that tomorrow, I guess. :) We need to get back in to the habit of waking up early, anyway. 5:00 wake up calls are coming soon!

Have a happy weekend.

the last days of summer

It's our last week of summer break. Sometimes at the end of summer, I am really anxious for school to start. Not this time. I'm not quite ready to get back into that busy routine, even though I know it will be good for us. Plus, our time with Mabel is running out! She only has two more summers at home, and it'd be nice if time would slow down just a little bit.

I've sort of let everything go this week. We are watching tv and playing the wii and looking at the iPad. And eating lots of ice cream, too. #longlivesummer